


Love and War

by RuneLyer



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: A little Gory, History, Lemon, Lime, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Religon, Supernatural - Freeform, War, War Era, based loosely off actual history
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 02:47:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5851222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuneLyer/pseuds/RuneLyer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world ruled by fear and most people running for their lives against the cruel Red army, a lone nomad traveling from city to city finally gets caught in the crossfire- and escapes, only to be caught again by the 1st general of the Red Army. </p>
<p>Lead to the court of the Emperor of Phoenix, ruler of the Red Army, the Emperor finds an interest in her and orders her to choose- be his 5th general, his concubine, or be a corpse in his palace. </p>
<p>Either way, she's still his. </p>
<p>And "Firefly" Meta Corine doesn't want to have anything to do with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and War

The city of Monal was busy at noon. 

The markets were busy with merchants shouting out prices and negotiating deals while families and customers alike walked down the crowded marketplace to see if they could buy something. 

The vendors were colorful and vibrant, the people smiling and happy despite all the commotion, and the city in an orderly kind of chaos, the kind around a busy house with crying babies and arguing siblings but also warm and loving at the same time. 

The sky was a beautiful, beautiful, blue, and white clouds floated on slight breezes that whistled through the alleyways and streets and tickled your nose, making you sneeze. 

Aromas of all kinds of delights, cinnamon, spice, herb and vanilla bean, things like fruit and freshly baked bread wafted through the market, making you unconsciously drool and your stomach grumble. 

It was a beautiful Moonsday in Monal, and I was loving it. Though far away from the markets and buildings down below, I stared out at the mountains towards the east of the city, content in the pure freedom in the air, the lightness of the wind, and the brightness of noon day. 

Monal was one of my favorite cities to stop by, since it was ruled fairly by a good family who I knew well, and the city's hustle and bustle had a certain charm to it that I enjoyed every time. The looming shadow of The Red Army was nonexistent here, and even though I knew that it was far from gone, it was nice to relish in fantasy sometimes, to not think and just relax. 

Unfortunately, my own sense of survival had different ideas. I wandered through the battles that the Red Army had fought so far.

They had fought mostly in the south, lately, since they had already conquered a lot of the eastern land and Monal was more towards the central west. There were a lot of disputes going on in the south and a lot of rebellions to put down, so the Red Army have had their hands full for a while. 

Things had been relatively peaceful lately, with the Red Army suspiciously quiet and camping out in two cities towards the center of eastern Aisa- Kaijo and Shuutoku. 

They were quite literally weeks away, and hadn't attacked any of the cities nearer to the border, which would be first to go before Monal, since Monal was more central in location on the west side of things. 

But one of her friends from the border cities who had insisted on keeping her updated with the news of how the Red Army was moving along had not contacted her for a very long time and the last time she had mirror called was a month ago. 

More than ample time with the Red Army's calvary to... My face contorted into a grim expression and shock danced across my vision. 

Oh shit. I made the calculations in my head, trying to factor in the (now that I realized it) lucky storm from last week, where exactly the Red Army was the last I got information, and how long it usually took to cover this distance if they were riding hard on horseback. 

I bit my lip and stood up, face probably a little too pale to be called healthy. If I was right, they should have already been here this morning. But they weren't, which meant that they were going to be here as soon as 5 minutes from now to as late as tomorrow noon. 

Debating over my options, I decided to be safe rather than sorry. Taking out the things in my knapsack, I made sure that everything I needed was there. Mirror, two summoning necklaces, holy water, book of spells, book of weapons.. And my staff. Perfect. 

Oh, and regular water plus food that would probably last for a couple days. I could hunt in the mountains for more food once I ran out. The west had a lot of natural springs and such, too, so water wouldn't be much of an issue and the next town over wasn't terribly far away. 

In the depths of the cloth, there was one small box with strange engravings on it, far too tiny for any one to notice, and it looked like a regular wooden box, maybe to hold a noblewoman's necklace. 

In reality, it was the box to put all my things in if I ever got captured by the Red Army. It was merely a precaution, since I didn't want my Magik stuff taken, but it still made me pause and stare at the box for a couple more seconds. 

Honestly, having a Time-Bender as a friend was incredibly useful sometimes, as I thought back to when my old partner in crime and best friend back in the dojo and I had met by total coincidence a few cities back. 

Izuki Shun, silver eyed sniper wonder, was many things. He was terrible at puns, never used enchantment magic because it always blew up in his face, and was a very good friend and old partner from the same dojo that all of us graduates from the Suzaku Academy knew and loved. 

Suzaku... I missed the times that we all had together in that academy terribly, but it didn't mean I didn't like the days I lived now any less. Since he was also such a mother hen, he had given me this box, just in case, and also as a present from a close friend. 

I couldn't refuse. Who knew he would be right after all?

Stuffing the books, necklaces, and holy water into the box, I watched in wonder as the tiny box clasped shut tightly, now unable to be opened by anyone but myself and Izuki, the one who created it. I could say the staff was the only type of weapon I could afford to defend myself, and the mirror was self-explanatory. If they found me, maybe I'd act like a narcissist. That would be kind of fun. 

That was if you got caught, I chided myself, and quickly slung the knapsack over my shoulder. Jogging lightly towards the staircase down to the city, I gripped the leather straps of the sack tightly. The sunset seemed to be moving too quickly now, the red lights already disappearing into a vibrant indigo, and the moon peeking out now that the bright sun had started to disappear. 

I bit my lip nervously and hastened my pace. There was almost no time left. 

TIME UNTIL THE REDS ENTER THE CITY OF MONAL: 2 HOURS


End file.
